anyone got a line on a nice balsamic vinegar ??

Looking for something luxuriously sweet & syrupy that'll hold its own against fruit, vanilla ice cream or some nice heirloom tomatoes.

Thanks.

- Richard

I get a four star one at Jerry's in Englewood, NJ. I don't recall the brand but will get that later.

For a great balsamic that's cheap enough for everyday use but luxurious enough that you still feel like royalty using it every day, I don't think you can beat La Vecchia's offerings.

Grab a bottle of 30-year that is extremely good for under $30 here.

If you know your balsamics, you'll know from the bottle that it isn't Tradizionale, but it's darn fine. You can also buy it from Zingerman's if you want to donate some extra money to someone else.

And yes, it does great justice to strawberries, ice cream, and tastes great straight. Take off every zig!

Okay, at risk of becoming a vinegar snob like I'm already a coffee snob and tea snob and becoming a shaving snob, vinegar on ice cream? I thought I was stylin' dipping foccaccia bread in $10-a-bottle balsamic, CP unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh basil. Edumacate me.

zingermans.com

sehrgut said:

Okay, at risk of becoming a vinegar snob ... Edumacate me.

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Well, I started gettin' edumacated last summer. A colleague told me about a vendor in a local open air market that sold high(ish)-end olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

I bought a small bottle for $40. Considered it a little outrageous at the time ... 'til I tasted it. Still have almost a quarter of it. Most unlike the stuff you'll get at (say) Whole Foods for $10-$20/bottle.

Viscous. More sweet than tangy. Not unlike a port (but w/o the alcoholic kick).

The vendor said to try it on fruit or ice cream. We did. Absolutely phenomenal combined with sliced mango or fresh peach. And damned if it isn't (to my palate) better on a good vanilla ice cream than a good chocolate syrup. (Uh-oh ... I can see the chocolate snobs coming out of the woodwork -- soon I'll have to post on my recent experience with Ecuadorian chocolate ... but I digress.)

After tasting this stuff, I instructed my son of (then) 11 years,

Anyway, the bottom line is that a well-made, properly aged (say, a decade or more) balsamic vinegar has more in common with a good dessert wine or port than with vinegar. As sweet as it is acid, with a rich taste, and a lovely viscosity. Complements all manner of foods. Definitely not the sort of thing that one would 'waste' as part of a salad dressing.

- Richard (the wanna-be vinegar snob)

B&B ROCKS!!

sehrgut said:

Okay, at risk of becoming a vinegar snob like I'm already a coffee snob and tea snob and becoming a shaving snob, vinegar on ice cream? I thought I was stylin' dipping foccaccia bread in $10-a-bottle balsamic, CP unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh basil. Edumacate me.

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A good balsamic 12 years or more is best for ice cream; I like it 20-40 years, personally. It's rich, tangy, thick, sweet, complex and the difference BT a $10/bottle balsamic and a good 30 year (like the La Vecchia I mentioned above, purists be damned) is like night and day. 16-year old laphroaig vs Harvey's. Better yet, wet shaving vs a Mach 3.

I highly recommend my link above; it may be the best $30 you'll ever spend. Zingermans.com is overpriced, but offers the same thing for around $50.

Better than ice cream, I like it on strawberries. Man, that's hard to beat.

Okay, for all my kvetching about Zingerman's, one thing they definitely do right is the balsamic sampler pack. Yes, like everything they sell, it's overpriced, but still worth it (IMO) to sample four different ages of vinegar. You don't get the 30 (the best bang for the buck, if you ask me), but it's still great.

In addition to the 30 being wonderful for fruit, I should mention that the La Vecchia's 10 is also staggeringly good. It's great for cheeses, and SWMBO and I like to drink small portions straight-up. It'll make you pucker to be sure, but it's sooo good this way.

Okay, I'm going to put this on hold for now. Consider my eyes to be opened! I simply have too many ADs to ad BVAD to the list . . . on a student budget, no less . . .

Rorschuck said:

For a great balsamic that's cheap enough for everyday use but luxurious enough that you still feel like royalty using it every day, I don't think you can beat La Vecchia's offerings.

Grab a bottle of 30-year that is extremely good for under $30 here.

If you know your balsamics, you'll know from the bottle that it isn't Tradizionale, but it's darn fine. You can also buy it from Zingerman's if you want to donate some extra money to someone else.

And yes, it does great justice to strawberries, ice cream, and tastes great straight. Take off every zig!

Click to expand...

I'm willing to give this one a shot since it's getting good reviews wherever I look.. thanks for the lead!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Balsamico.. Tradizionale is an appellation given only to Balsamic Vinegar from Modena or Reggio Emilia that are produced to certain standards, much like the DOC / AOC certifications given to wines from famous wine regions. That being said, Tradizionale is some sort of quality guarantee, but since the process of making Balsamic Vinegar can be replicated anywhere in the world, the fact that a Balsamic does not have this label doesn't mean it's not just as good.

Ciao!
-\Visdom

My go to is 4 leaves balsamic from efoodies, but we have a botle of la vecchia which is about 30-40 yrs old, and gets used only sparingly on salads.

Modena all thay way!

I'm not a vinegar snob, and I'm sure I'm slumming it here when compared to some of the others in this thread, but I got a small bottle (probably around 300 ml) at Trader Joe's that has been great on everything I've tried it on. My two favorites are fresh tomatoes sprinkled with kosher salt and balsamic, and grilled peaches with a glaze of balsamic, a bit of honey, cinnamon, and vanilla extract served with vanilla ice cream. Both are spectacular. I don't recall the price right now, but I'm sure it was quite reasonable.

Rorschuck said:

Okay, for all my kvetching about Zingerman's, one thing they definitely do right is the balsamic sampler pack.

Click to expand...

Wow. B&B does it again. I now know what to get my girlfriend for her birthday. She's a balsamic fiend, she'll love that. Thanks!

The Lucini 10yr is pretty darn good for $14. I got that to use as kinda an everyday "decent" vinegar, but I haven't splurged on anything pricier because I think I'd be afraid to use it.